Spring 2013 Class Descriptions

2-4 credit(s)Requirement(s): SkillsConcentration(s): Public Interest Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMG)

The Land Use Clinic provides students with the opportunity to become involved in land use and land development issues. Students are placed with government agencies, elected officials or attorneys in private practice. Most placements are with the City of San Diego and include the City Attorney’s Office, the Mayor’s Office, and City Council offices. Students work under the supervision of an attorney. Student work usually focuses on local issues including the procedures for siting cell phone towers, the regulation of adult entertainment and cardrooms, reviewing environmental documents, attending community meetings and issues involving affordable housing. The weekly two-hour classroom component covers the basic statutory and regulatory framework of land use law and procedures. In addition to the class students are required to attend one local community planning group meeting. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis. No prerequisites.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the Environmental & Energy Law Concentration web page for more information.Additional Information:Environmental & Energy Law Concentration

2-4 credit(s)Requirement(s): SkillsConcentration(s): Public Interest Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMG)

The Land Use Clinic provides students with the opportunity to become involved in land use and land development issues. Students are placed with government agencies, elected officials or attorneys in private practice. Most placements are with the City of San Diego and include the City Attorney’s Office, the Mayor’s Office, and City Council offices. Students work under the supervision of an attorney. Student work usually focuses on local issues including the procedures for siting cell phone towers, the regulation of adult entertainment and cardrooms, reviewing environmental documents, attending community meetings and issues involving affordable housing. The weekly two-hour classroom component covers the basic statutory and regulatory framework of land use law and procedures. In addition to the class students are required to attend one local community planning group meeting. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis. No prerequisites.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the Environmental & Energy Law Concentration web page for more information.Additional Information:Environmental & Energy Law Concentration

Students interview, counsel, and represent clients in Superior Court unlawful detainer trials, in administrative hearings involving federally subsidized Section 8 termination proceedings, in Superior Court involving Writs of Administrative Mandamus, and in the Appellate Department of the Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeal involving appeals from the various trial court proceedings. An adjunct professor/attorney supervises students, who draft pleadings and correspondence, conduct discovery, and confer and negotiate with opposing counsel/parties. Weekly group meetings are combined with individual case conferences to provide intensive personal training in litigation techniques, problem solving, and case management. Students also learn general civil litigation practice and procedures. Prerequisites: Civil Procedure and Evidence. Preference will be given to those applicants who have taken Practicum or Lawyering Skills II, and who are willing to take three units. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis.

Students interview, counsel, and represent clients in Superior Court unlawful detainer trials, in administrative hearings involving federally subsidized Section 8 termination proceedings, in Superior Court involving Writs of Administrative Mandamus, and in the Appellate Department of the Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeal involving appeals from the various trial court proceedings. An adjunct professor/attorney supervises students, who draft pleadings and correspondence, conduct discovery, and confer and negotiate with opposing counsel/parties. Weekly group meetings are combined with individual case conferences to provide intensive personal training in litigation techniques, problem solving, and case management. Students also learn general civil litigation practice and procedures. Prerequisites: Civil Procedure and Evidence. Preference will be given to those applicants who have taken Practicum or Lawyering Skills II, and who are willing to take three units. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis.

1 credit(s)Concentration(s): International Law (JD), International Law (LLMC), LLM in International Law (LLMI)

There is a great distance between current legal institutions in Latin America and those that were originally designed and established Latin American constitutions drew a lot on the U.S. Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man. In fact, they instituted representative democracy, the inviolability of individual rights, and untrammeled economic freedom.
During the twentieth century Latin American countries suffered from great political and legal instability, civil wars, massive human rights violations, economic crises, and a great number of experiments in land reform, emergency powers, financial confiscations, and constitutional engineering. All these phenomena have impinged on Latin American institutions, legal culture, and social norms, thus creating what may be the most impressive natural socio-legal laboratory on earth.
The course will be theoretically minded. It will discuss selected problems in Latin American law and institutions in the light of law and economics, law and development, and social and political philosophy. No prior knowledge about Latin American politics or law will be needed. The lessons to be drawn can be generalized to illuminate current legal and social problems in other developing countries and elsewhere. They can also serve to assess various theoretical paradigms. Students will be required to write a short paper (10-12 pages).

Educational policy development at the local and state level is a complex and convoluted process. To give a limited number of law students and graduate education students an inside look on how educational policy is formulated, the School of Law and the School of Leadership and Education Studies are co-sponsoring this seminar under the auspices of the Center for Education Policy and Law (CEPAL). The course encompasses readings, cases, and deliberations with the instructors and guest presenters, as well as interaction in the Bay Area and Sacramento with researchers, interest groups and labor unions, advocacy-based think-tanks, and key elected and appointed governmental officials. The seminar this semester will focus on three key areas of law and policy: (1) school and community college finance reform and accountability; (2) school reform through charters, vouchers, and tax credits; and (3) addressing racial isolation in all levels of schooling (focus on Fisher v. University of Texas, Austin pending before the U.S. Supreme Court). Two field trips will be conducted during the semester. The one-day Bay Area field trip will include discussions with educational policy researchers and a class action law attorney at the Stanford School of Education and Stanford Law School. The class also will meet with the general counsel and key leaders of the California Teachers Association in Burlingame. The one-day Sacramento field trip will feature discussions with elected and appointment policymakers in the Governor’s office, state legislature, and education agencies. Student travel will be funded through CEPAL. A research paper on a topic of the student’s choice related to educational policy development and a class presentation based on the paper are required. This is a paper course that will fulfill the written work requirement. Co-teaching the course will be Scott Himelstein, former Acting and Deputy Secretary of Education for the State of California. Aside from the two field trips, class sessions will be held on selected Thursday evenings following the first class meeting. Three will be focused on the key areas of law and policy addressed in the seminar, one on a debriefing following the field trips, and three devoted to the student presentations. Note: Enrollment is limited initially to six law students. Prerequisite: LWFC 530 Education Law. If spaces are available prior to the first class on Thursday, January 17, additional law students will be admitted from the waitlist. Those who are familiar with education law through other courses and/or experiences may enroll with instructor permission once all law students meeting the prerequisite have had an opportunity to enroll.

Law and Socioeconomics studies the interrelationship between law and economic/social processes. It is interdisciplinary and draws on a variety of economic approaches (not only neoclassical economics) and other social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science. It offers students an interdisciplinary, values-based approach to public policy that is designed to take into account the power implications and distributional effects of laws and stresses the importance to effective regulation of attention to historical context, philosophical beliefs, culture, existing institutions, working rules, and sources of power. Students write a paper for this seminar.

Why can (or can't) you marry your cousin? Or a member of your same gender? Why can't you have two wives? Or three husbands? What about intimate relations with your brother? Okay? What about a 14-year old? Or a chicken? Can you be sued, or jailed, if you fornicate? Or commit adultery? What are the legitimate boundaries of the sex industry? Or of a first date? Can you be held liable if you say you're sterile but aren't? Or say you're disease-free? Or that you're going to marry someone just so they'll sleep with you? Who gets the ring when an engagement breaks off? Is it a tort if you're injured during sex? In short, how does the law regulate intimate relations? This class addresses the many forms of this issue. This is a paper course that will fulfill the written work requirement.

3 credit(s)Requirement(s): WritingConcentration(s): LLM in International Law (LLMI), Environmental and Energy Law (LLMG), International Law (LLMC), Public Interest Law (JD), International Law (JD), Environmental and Energy Law (JD)

Instruction concentrates on the origins and development of the legal regime applicable to the uses and resources of the oceans. Special consideration is given to the formulation and codification process of this dynamic branch of public international law, in particular the work and final outcome of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Topics for analysis also will include fishing activities, maritime delimitation, pollution, marine scientific research, and U.S. policy regarding law of the sea matters. A research paper will be required.

Transactional drafting is a skill used in most areas of law. It refers to the process of composing documents to formalize agreements and settlements between parties. This course will train students to be comfortable with the drafting process, which includes expressing agreements and settlements in language that will benefit clients, and composing documents that contain this language in a form that will maximize favorable interpretation in court. The course emphasizes both cooperative and individual drafting work. Each week in class, students will learn about selected components of the process, draft a document or exercise requiring the use of that component, and receive feedback on that day’s drafting activity. Students will have weekly individual homework assignments that reinforce that week’s skill. One or more attorneys whose practices include drafting work will appear in class to give students practical feedback on their work. Grades will be based on individual weekly written homework assignments and an end-of-semester individual drafting project, and are subject to the upper class curve requirements.
Students may only enroll in two of the following during their law school career: Advanced Legal Writing OR LWR III: Lit & Judicial Drafting OR LWR III: Legal Writing OR Legal Drafting. Students desiring to add the second class in this series must receive a signature on their add/drop form from the Office for JD Student Affairs, and provide the form to the Records office (that is, students cannot add the second class themselves online.)

Legal Writing & Research II (Staff)LWAA546

1 credit(s)

Legal Writing and Research (LWR) II introduces students to persuasive legal writing and oral argument. Through a series of assignments, students focus on the analytical, research, and writing skills required to produce effective legal briefs. Students are also trained in the art of oral advocacy and required to deliver an oral argument based on their legal briefs before a panel of attorneys. The course is offered in small sections with very low student-faculty ratios so that faculty may provide individualized and frequent feedback on student work. Required for first-year students.

Legal Writing III: Legal Writing is designed for students seeking to improve their legal writing skills. Students will write a client letter and legal memoranda based on a closed universe of cases. At least one assignment will require a mandatory conference and re-write. In addition, students will complete a series of short assignments focused on grammar and paragraph organization.
Students may only enroll in two of the following during their law school career: Advanced Legal Writing OR LWR III: Lit & Judicial Drafting OR LWR III: Legal Writing OR Legal Drafting. Students desiring to add the second class in this series must receive a signature on their add/drop form from the Office for JD Student Affairs, and provide the form to the Records office (that is, students cannot add the second class themselves online.)

Legal Writing & Research III: Litigation and Judicial Drafting is a course that will help students improve their research, analysis and writing skills in a variety of litigation-simulated contexts. Students will learn how to evaluate a complaint, conduct legal research on causes of action and defenses, and will draft two pieces of litigation-oriented writing (a motion and a judicial opinion). The course will also review how to evaluate legislation and contract language from a litigation and drafting perspective. The course is designed for students who wish to improve their legal research and writing skills, and is particularly helpful to students interested in litigation and judicial clerkships.
Students may only enroll in two of the following during their law school career: Advanced Legal Writing OR LWR III: Lit & Judicial Drafting OR LWR III: Legal Writing OR Legal Drafting. Students desiring to add the second class in this series must receive a signature on their add/drop form from the Office for JD Student Affairs, and provide the form to the Records office (that is, students cannot add the second class themselves online.)

This course, which is offered only to students in the LLM in Comparative Law program, focuses on providing students with: (1) a broad overview of the structure of the U.S. legal system; (2) techniques for successful research , writing and practice of law in the U.S. courts; (3) an introduction to the objective analytical skills that promote success in coursework and in the profession; (4) an introduction to persuasive writing techniques; and (5) techniques for success in class and examinations. The course has a very low student-faculty ratio and faculty carefully review each student’s research and writing assignments. Students are provided opportunities to meet with their professor and revise their written work.

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